Wind, Impact monies

The Medicine Bow Town Council met at 7 p.m. on Sept. 10 at the Medicine Bow Community Hall. It was business as usual as the minutes and financials were approved.

The council heard from Gareth McDonald of BluEarth, a Canadian Company, who spoke about two new wind projects coming potentially coming into the area. He said it’s an eight-year-old company, privately funded by the Ontario teachers’ pension fund. They own 99.5 percent of BluEarth, a wind, solar and hydroelectric company. The Two Rivers project will be the first project set to begin in 2019-2020. The second project, Lucky Star, is dependent on Gateway project and the Aeolus substation completions. Both those projects will be on the Medicine Bow River Ranch and Lookout. Kevin Colman, mayor of Medicine Bow, asked how many operators were needed for the turbines. McDonald said in order to operate efficiently, one person was needed for every 10 turbines, with a minimum of three people when working on one. McDonald said they like their operators to reside no more than an hour away from the site.

Jim Colman, resident of Medicine Bow told the council that there were five broken windows in the building at the rodeo grounds. The building is not locked and he said it looks like at least three were broken by livestock, but one was broken from the inside. He had an estimate of over $700 for 5 panes. He checked with Habitat for Humanity and found two that don’t match for $80 each. Colman said all windows are boarded up which makes it dark inside with no electricity there which made it hard to work.

Shane Blakeman, council member said a fence project was needed before a window project or the cattle would break them again. Colman said the Fire Department had bought field fencing and had almost 1,000 feet left that could be used.

The second reading of Ordinance 1-2018-amending the Medicine Bow liquor laws was approved.

The council approved up to $1,000 for a computer and software.

The council also approved opening an account for each project’s impact monies that could be coming in soon.

Medicine Bow Museum Director Sharon Biamon said she had received the new Union Pacific lease. The cost is $300 a year, but they wanted $750 up front for administration fees to redo the property lines. The Friends of the Museum will pay the administration fee out of the Dino Museum Donations. She said there were a few corporations that would release money to move the fossil house museum once everything was in place. The current foundation had to be excavated to see how deep it was in order to pour the new foundation properly. She said work would start within the next two weeks and hoped to document the move. The museum was now closed except for weekends and appointments. She asked the mayor if the attorney should look at the lease agreement. Colman directed Karen Heath, town clerk, to send the document to the attorney to review.

J. Colman, volunteer with the Fire Department said the Fill the Boot campaign had raised over $1,800 for Muscular Dystrophy because of the football game and Senator John Barrasso had personally donated. J. Colman said The Mud Drags had a poor spectator turnout and the department had lost money on the event. He said the department had two new provisionary members apply and he would get the paperwork over to Heath.

Concerning South Central Wyoming Emergency Medical Services (SCWEMS), J. Colman, Medicine Bow representative, said SCWEMS was moving forward with the Classic Air Ambulance contracts and they would cover every call. Impact assistance money is slated to pay for the coverage. They were working on improving the billing system and policies and procedures. Tiffany Herring was hired as bookkeeper and the director was offered a contract and the matter was in negotiations.

J. Colman, chairman of the planning and zoning commission, said the commission had approved three building permits and had waived the fee to move the fossil house museum.

High Country Joint Powers Board representative Toby Smith said the board had approved two new members from Elk Mountain—Pam and Ken Campbell. He said there were complaints about how dirty the dump was but they were letting chairman, Leonard Gonzales, handle the complaints. Smith said Garrett Irene, the operator of the landfill had quit and a new person was taking his place—but it would be disorganized for a while.

The next scheduled town council will be at 7 p.m. on Oct. 8 at the Medicine Bow Community Hall.